Quick Grades: Spurs @ Magic - Nov. 28, 2012

[timvp]

Tim Duncan A
Dominant interior defense. Deadly efficiency on offense thanks to patience and smarts.

Manu Ginobili A
Outside shooting looking better and better. He has taken great care of the ball of late.

Tony Parker A
Offensively, he remains on fire. He’s hitting difficult shots and making near flawless decisions.

Danny Green B+
Good rebounding. Mostly solid defense. Jumper looked crisp once again.

Gary Neal B+
Became a one-man scoring machine for a stretch. Defense uneven but mostly positive.

DeJuan Blair C+
His D wasn’t very good early on. His O mostly consisted of unbridled energy.

Tiago Splitter B-
Again didn’t build off of a great performance. Didn’t pick up his aggression level until garbage time.

Boris Diaw B+
Turned down open shots but made up for with defense, rebounding and more remarkable passes.

Nando De Colo C-
Got the PG gig in both halves. Didn’t take advantage. Poor scoring, iffy passing. D actually pretty good.

Matt Bonner Inc.
Pulled down his first contested defensive board of the season. I guess that’s a start.

Cory Joseph Inc.
Continues to look much more like an NBA player than he did last season.

James Anderson Inc.
Not horrible but also not showing any intriguing qualities.

Pop B
Probably could have played TD and TP a few less minutes but that’s about the extent of my nitpicking.

[racm]

If de Colo still shows he can't shoot CoJo should get more minutes.

[dallasmaverickslose]

Get a life timvp. Seriously.

[Morg1411]

Thanks timvp!

[timvp]

Get a life timvp. Seriously.

Thanks for the suggestion

[elemento]

Thanks tim

Too bad Nando is not taking advantage of the PT he is getting. Patty got a DNP. That was a surprise.

[007nites]

Timmy is going for DPOY this year.

[racm]

Thanks tim

Too bad Nando is not taking advantage of the PT he is getting. Patty got a DNP. That was a surprise.

Pop's resting Patty for tomorrow.

Timmy is going for DPOY this year.

I'm surprised he doesn't have one...

[Seventyniner]

Get a life timvp. Seriously.

Next time, try:

timvp's life F
Posts grades immediately after a big blowout. Has no life.

[Libri]

Timmy is going for DPOY this year.

Unfortunately, he will be snubbed.

[DPG21920]

Any talk of the big 3 sitting tomorrow? Is is Pat Stacks time!

[xtremesteven33]

TIMVP should get paid more money than any other writer on the spurs ive read. Just sayin

[DMC]

TIMVP should get paid more money than any other writer on the spurs ive read. Just sayin

So he should make more than 10 dollars an hour then?

[team-work]

Get a life timvp. Seriously.

That's more or less the message I'd like to send you timvp. A casual fan like me just look at your quick grade and game thoughts, and can pretend to be an expert on the Spurs. Thanks indeed!

[jestersmash]

Nando de Colo continues to be a huge jump shooting liability. Once opposing teams start to catch on, his passing lanes off the pick and roll may get clogged up. His overall 3P% is surprisingly decent (37.5%), although it really doesn't feel like it (I would never have guessed 37.5% prior to checking his stats page). A handful of his 3 point makes have come during garbage time (this assertion isn't stat-supported, I'm just going by casual observation) so 37.5% is perhaps a little deceptive.

IIRC Bruno said De Colo is a competent shooter and proved as much in Europe, so hopefully it's just rookie jitters or something. But damn, some of his meaningful 3 point/2 point jump shooting attempts have looked just awful. Wide right. Wide left. There's no consistency.

Gary Neal goes into a shooting slump and it's almost always because his shots are too short or (sometimes) too long. They're rarely far left or far right. I'm never worried about Gary trying to shoot his way out of a slump because his shot is so fundamentally sound. Although then again, Gary Neal is possibly one of the best pure shooters in the NBA so this may not be a fair comparison.

Anyways I'm hoping this is just rookie jitters + a lack of consistent shot attempts per game. Obviously accelerating de Colo's development isn't really a huge priority this season because he's a 3rd string guard who will likely see little to no minutes during the playoffs, but it'd be a shame to see his terrific court vision rendered useless by an inconsistent jump shot.

[ace3g]

While De Colo is still in a slump, he gradually (from the looks of it) becoming more comfortable with the adjustments he is working on with Chip. You can see it on the court, he is taking shots he wasn't earlier in the season; I think he is real close (1-2 games) to having a break out shooting game.

[timvp]

Nando de Colo continues to be a huge jump shooting liability. Once opposing teams start to catch on, his passing lanes off the pick and roll may get clogged up.

Tonight the Magic were the first team who actually defended NDC like he couldn't shoot. The results weren't pretty. Once that scouting report gets around, he'll either have to knock down a couple shots or he won't be able to play at all.

[racm]

De Colo has the same problem as the Timberwolves' Shved. Both were good shooters in Europe but are struggling to adapt to NBA defenses and pace.

[DesertSpur50]

Nando de Colo continues to be a huge jump shooting liability. Once opposing teams start to catch on, his passing lanes off the pick and roll may get clogged up. His overall 3P% is surprisingly decent (37.5%), although it really doesn't feel like it (I would never have guessed 37.5% prior to checking his stats page). A handful of his 3 point makes have come during garbage time (this assertion isn't stat-supported, I'm just going by casual observation) so 37.5% is perhaps a little deceptive.

IIRC Bruno said De Colo is a competent shooter and proved as much in Europe, so hopefully it's just rookie jitters or something. But damn, some of his meaningful 3 point/2 point jump shooting attempts have looked just awful. Wide right. Wide left. There's no consistency.

Gary Neal goes into a shooting slump and it's almost always because his shots are too short or (sometimes) too long. They're rarely far left or far right. I'm never worried about Gary trying to shoot his way out of a slump because his shot is so fundamentally sound. Although then again, Gary Neal is possibly one of the best pure shooters in the NBA so this may not be a fair comparison.

Anyways I'm hoping this is just rookie jitters + a lack of consistent shot attempts per game. Obviously accelerating de Colo's development isn't really a huge priority this season because he's a 3rd string guard who will likely see little to no minutes during the playoffs, but it'd be a shame to see his terrific court vision rendered useless by an inconsistent jump shot.

Agreed. De Colo is an excellent passer, but what makes people like Manu and Nash dangerous passers is that they can create their own shot. Players will sag off Nando and go under screens if he has no outside shot, whereas you have to fight through screens with Nash type players. Without the entire package there isn't much of a threat.

[ace3g]

I don't know about Shved, but De Colo is having his shot restructured by Chip. So while I'm sure De Colo is also adjusting to the pace, there are other factors.

[dunkman]

Thanks timvp, most of us do appreciate the reports of the games.

[Boomersgold]

Nando de Colo continues to be a huge jump shooting liability. Once opposing teams start to catch on, his passing lanes off the pick and roll may get clogged up. His overall 3P% is surprisingly decent (37.5%), although it really doesn't feel like it (I would never have guessed 37.5% prior to checking his stats page). A handful of his 3 point makes have come during garbage time (this assertion isn't stat-supported, I'm just going by casual observation) so 37.5% is perhaps a little deceptive.

IIRC Bruno said De Colo is a competent shooter and proved as much in Europe, so hopefully it's just rookie jitters or something. But damn, some of his meaningful 3 point/2 point jump shooting attempts have looked just awful. Wide right. Wide left. There's no consistency.

Gary Neal goes into a shooting slump and it's almost always because his shots are too short or (sometimes) too long. They're rarely far left or far right. I'm never worried about Gary trying to shoot his way out of a slump because his shot is so fundamentally sound. Although then again, Gary Neal is possibly one of the best pure shooters in the NBA so this may not be a fair comparison.

Anyways I'm hoping this is just rookie jitters + a lack of consistent shot attempts per game. Obviously accelerating de Colo's development isn't really a huge priority this season because he's a 3rd string guard who will likely see little to no minutes during the playoffs, but it'd be a shame to see his terrific court vision rendered useless by an inconsistent jump shot.

I don't think bruno actually watched De Colo play in the Euroleague. According to Eurobasket, in 11 games, whilst playing for Valencia, De Colo shot 27.8% from three and averaged 6.5 points per game in 18 minutes of playing time. That's exactly the De Colo that we saw play in the Olympics, so I don't see why we keep expecting him to 'find his shot'. For De Colo, 'finding his shot' equates to 6 points per game on a dreadful shooting percentage.

[swaggerjackson]

he does need to develop an outside shot just to maintain proper spacing, but also he is getting thrown into the fire here. I think the plan was probably to bring him along slowly. If Jax and Kawhi were not injured we probably wouldn't even see Nando but in the last two minutes. I think he was always a long term project. Chip will help him out. Remember Parker's shooting before Chip. My God!

[ace3g]

The good thing about Nando is that his other skills have translated to the NBA, even his defense which hasn't been too bad so far.

[Poolboy5623]

Yeah, I think nando will be fine. He's no ginobili but he'll still make a good nba player, I do believe. Just give the guy time..it's actually a good thing he's gotten more minutes with the injuries..on the job training. Luckily the spurs are good enough to win, regardless of his play.